A report of the Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications introducing the performance management processes at the council.

The Panel received a report of the Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications. The report outlined the council’s approach to the setting, reporting and monitoring of performance information within the context of its overall performance management framework and in particular its key performance indicators (KPIs).

The Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications made a presentation to the Panel covering how the council’s performance management framework had evolved, performance indicators, targets and how performances were challenged.

The set of indicators which were now reported had been tailored to Watford and although a wide range of indicators were collected, only key indicators were reported to scrutiny. It was crucial to see the indicators in context considering the geography and demographics of the town, amongst other things.

The panel discussed how the particular suite of indicators was chosen to be measured and reported and how the targets were set. This was carried out by the heads of service as part of the service planning process and was also agreed by the portfolio holders. Scrutiny had the role of challenging these decisions to ensure the most appropriate data was being reported and the targets were robust and would promote better outcomes for residents.

Considering how the indicators could be benchmarked, it was noted that this was particularly difficult now that indicators were no longer reported nationally. Councils chose their sets of indicators, which could be measured differently, and each council area was unique.

Data quality standards were then discussed by the panel.  The Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications undertook spot checks of the data reported.  For the outsourced services, it was the role of the client teams to ensure the figures were accurate and do spot checks.  How this operated in relation to street cleansing was outlined particularly in relation to how the street cleansing outcomes were audited.

Turning to the indicators which discussed residents’ satisfaction, members discussed the citizen’s panel and the community survey. The Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications explained how the citizen’s panel was put together by an external company. It was designed to be representative of wards and the population. There were set tracking questions in each community survey but it also included questions based on what was relevant at the time. A survey was planned for the autumn and the panel expressed an interest in having an input.   

Comparing the current performance management processes to the previous performance regime, the Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications commented that services were now able to make their own decisions about how best to measure performance but balance and discipline were still required. There was a significant amount of what was known as ‘transparency data’ which was required to be published by government, e.g. expenditure over £500 had to be published monthly,  but this had less impact on outcomes for local people.

During the course of the discussions, the following actions were agreed for the Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications:

·        The panel to receive a copy of the client team’s report on street cleansing.

·        The panel to receive information about the community survey.

·        The panel to receive a copy of the presentation made at the meeting.

The panel expressed its thanks to the Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications for a very useful and informative presentation. 

RESOLVED –

1.      that the report be noted.

2.      that the actions requested be undertaken.